Stephanie Kokan, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’

Just a reminder, today is the LAST DAY of the 25% off 25 stamp sets sale. Don’t miss out!

If you place an order today, you will be entered in a drawing to win the hostess benefits and enjoy a little shopping spree in the Stampin’ Up catalog! Each $25 you spend earns you one entry in the drawing. Just click here to shop in my online store, and enter the hostess code YPBWBUFH in the lower left hand corner of your screen when you are viewing your shopping cart. I will notify the winner this afternoon via email.

Now on to some fun festive projects! I met up with some of my stamping friends for dinner last week – always fun to see these sweet ladies and just as fun to share ideas with each other! We each made some fun holiday-themed projects to swap, I’ll share them with you over the next few days. Here is an adorable pumpkin from Beth Crocker that I just love (and aren’t I disciplined that I did not eat the chocolate yet? No guarantees on how long it will last now that I have the pictures I need…)

Materials:

Stamp Set: none!

Ink: Early Espresso (Stampin’ Write Marker)

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie

Tools: Simply Scored, glue

What a cute idea for Halloween gifts for teachers, neighbors, coworkers – just a fun little something that is especially appropriate for those not into the whole creepy/scary Halloween scene.

I believe the tutorial for this project came from Brenda Quintana at http://www.qbeesquest.blogspot.com. I know I have seen other cute chocolate kiss-based projects there before. 🙂

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My kids are huge into Halloween decor. If they had their way, we would have giant inflatable spiders on our front lawn and skeletons and ghosts everywhere in the house. Every time we have been out to Target or even the grocery store over the past month, they beg me to push the cart through the Halloween section just so they can look at all the scary costumes and decor. They have been busy plotting their jack-o-lantern designs for weeks – there has been much discussion about scary eyes and jagged teeth. And this morning my sweet innocent four year old drew me a picture of a ghost “with blood coming out of its mouth”. This is what comes from never letting him watch any television besides educational shows on PBS Kids!?

Too bad for them, I am NOT a fan of ghoulish Halloween decor. I am more into pumpkins and candy corn and the kind of ghosts who are cute, not creepy.

I DO like the Witches’ Brew Halloween paper from the holiday catalog. While some of the pages do have some creepy images (there are skulls and crossbones, as well as spiders), none of it is over the top. And because the 12″x12″ sheets are all double sided, you can always just skip the ones with skulls and choose the pattern on the opposite side of the paper. I love the color scheme – Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, and Summer Starfruit. Perfect Halloween colors!

See, there are some skulls and spiderwebs and bats, but by cutting the paper into strips it kind of limits the creepy factor since you only see them in small doses. The overall result is festive rather than creepy-crawly.

The DSP is cut into strips 1 1/2″ wide x 12″ long, and it takes 21 of them to go around the 10″ wreath form. I used three additional 1 1/2″ strips scored at every 1/4″ to make the three rosettes where the letters spelling BOO are adhered. Obviously this is an indoor decoration – don’t put a paper wreath outside where it can get rained on or it will look sad mighty fast.

I just love this project concept – I have made additional versions in Sweater Weather paper for November and Season of Style paper for December. If you’d like to make a wreath yourself and you live in the Hunstville/Madison AL area, I am offering this project as a private class. The fee is $15 per wreath – just get five or more people together and contact me at stephanie.kokan@gmail.com to select your date and time! Makes for a great girls’ night!

Don’t forget, just a few days left before the $25 Starter Kit deal goes away! Click the image above to find out more and sign up right online. Once you have purchased the starter kit, you will enjoy demonstrator privileges until March 2014 with NO further obligation to purchase or sell anything. I’d love to have you on my team, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator just for the discount on your own purchases or whether you want to build a business and enjoy an extra source of income – you are welcome whether you live in Alabama or on the other side of the country. I am here to answer any questions before AND after you sign up – just email me at stephanie.kokan@gmail.com!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! We had 231 trick-or-treaters, it was a little bit crazy around here. So fun to see all the creative costumes people came up with. We had a Tinkerbell and a rocketship here at our house who had a GREAT night. Getting up for school this morning was a little rough. I’m going to blame it on our neighbor who rented a COTTON CANDY MACHINE and sat there spinning fresh cotton candy for kids (um, wow!) It made my Butterfingers look a little lame in comparison. 😦 Not the ones I sent to school yesterday for my kids to share with their classmates, though:

Now this is a cute little way to share treats. It’s adapted from a great swap I received from Pamala Smith at the regional event in Chattanooga in September (I just adapted her design to be Halloween-themed!) Now, I did not have the time or desire to make over 200 of these for all our trick-or-treaters but it was very easy to make a couple dozen for my kids to share with their classmates. Here’s how you do it:

Start with an 8 1/2″ x 2″ piece of cardstock

Fold in half

Punch through both layers of cardstock on the end OPPOSITE the folded edge with the Scallop Edge Border Punch

Emboss the front side if desired.

Punch a slot at the top end of front side using the Word Window punch

Embellish as desired (I brought out my favorite little [retired] owl stamp again, I promise I’ll put him away now until next year) I handwrote a little note on the unembossed back for my children’s classmates (From your friend, ________)

Insert a treat so the top end sticks out the slot

Adhere the front and back together at the top using Sticky Strip.

Easy as pie! I can see adapting this for all kinds of occasions – a thank you treat, Valentines for classmates at school, party favors, wedding favors…what ways can you come up with to use this?

Tools and Accessories: Scallop Edge Border Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Owl Punch, Big Shot with Spider Web embossing folder, Sticky Strip, candy of your choice (I found most Fun Size chocolates fit well but you don’t want anything too fat or it will strain at the edges of the slot you’ve punched out. The original swap I received actually just had a little Hershey bar in there and it laid flat and looked very nice). You may want a few extra to snack on while you work!

Now Halloween is over and it’s time to move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts! I am so excited to share this promotion with you that begins today:

Every hostess who has a qualifying party between now and December 16th will receive an ENTIRE COLOR FAMILY of ink pads on top of the regular hostess benefits. That’s TEN classic Stampin’ Pads in the color family of your choice – brights, subtles, or regals. Click here to read the details. I’d love to make some holiday cards with you and your friends – or tags for packages or even some holiday scrapbook pages that will be ready to fill in with all the great pictures you’re about to have!

Also, if you want to become a demonstrator, you will receive the ink pads for free when you purchase your starter kit between now and December 16th. I’d love to have you on my team! Feel free to e-mail me at stephanie.kokan@gmail.com anytime you have questions, or visit my demonstrator website to learn more about how the Starter Kit works and the many benefits of being a demonstrator.

Here’s one last Halloween photo, can you believe my hydrangeas are still producing blooms in NOVEMBER? I cannot. Be on the lookout for a tutorial later this week on how to make these cute little pumpkins from your scraps of orange cardstock. Makes for great Thanksgiving table or mantel decor!

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Have I mentioned before how I love owls? When Stampin’ Up! came out with a hostess set in last year’s holiday mini catalog that had this little trick-or-treating owl stamp that coordinates with our Owl punch, I had to get it just for this one stamp. The other stamps in the set are all great, but this one just grabbed me. I am sorry to report that this set retired in January, so it is no longer available unless you can find someone selling a used set. 😦 You could use your Owl punch and create something similar out of cardstock – if any of you creative readers out there come up with anything cute, please send it in and I’ll post it!

It is seriously hot outside. It has been well over 100 degrees here in north Alabama for days now. My lawn is getting crispy. I fear for our azaleas. So while I am hiding out inside in the air conditioning (between trips outside to water our plants), why not live in denial a bit and pretend it is October? Nice cool fall weather, with some of my favorite holidays coming up? Sounds heavenly right about now – let’s make Halloween treat boxes. 🙂

The rosette on the treat box was made from a 12″ long strip of DSP, scored at every 1/4″ and accordion-folded into a circle.

To make the cute little broomstick, take a square of DSP and cut a “fringe”. Then wrap around one end of the stick candy (I adhered mine with Sticky Strip just to be sure it stuck). Then wrap a ribbon around it, an inch or two is all you need. Baker’s twine to tie on a cute little Halloween image from the Spooky Bingo Bits set and you’re done!

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About Me

I am a structural engineer who has taken a step back from work since becoming a mom. Instead of designing real buildings these days, I enjoy making pretty things out of paper! I live in the Huntsville, AL area with my husband the rocket scientist and our two children.

Contact me anytime:
stephanie.kokan@gmail.com

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"This is my personal blog, I am an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, and I am responsible for its content. Stampin' Up! does not endorse the use of or contents of the classes, services, or non-Stampin' Up! products I may offer here."